Improvisation the key to success in Anonymous Theatre for Tualatin's John Bartholomew

Tualatin actor John Bartholomew stepped onto the stage Aug. 18 at the Gerding Theater at the Armory as part of Theatre Vertigo's cast of The Crucible. He had memorized his lines and rehearsed with the director but did not know who the other cast members were and had never rehearsed the play with them.

The play was presented in a format called "Anonymous Theatre," in which cast members do not find out each other's identity until they go live on stage.

Friends of the cast members received an email that explains the premise: A play is selected. Auditions are held. The play is cast. The actors are sworn to secrecy. No one in the cast knows who their fellow performers will be, and they do not reveal their participation in the project to anyone. The actors rehearse one-on-one with the director. Then, on the night of the performance, the cast arrives in street clothes and enters the theatre as if they are members of the audience.

"You are asked to come to the audition incognito; you screen yourself from the person before and the person behind you. Your audition is with the director and the producer and you're asked to keep it quiet," said Bartholomew. "I love Whose Line is it Anyway? When this came up I thought, it's a play, but there's this wonderful improvisational element to it."

When Bartholomew got the email saying he was cast, he felt a "what have I gotten himself into" feeling. He says that waiting in the audience for his entrance was the most nervous he has ever been for a show. When asked if he would do it again, he hesitates and explains that the emotional part of his brain says yes, but the rational part of his brain wonders why he would ever do it again.

"It was seat of the pants back behind the stage. There were lots of little things that weren't obvious to the audience," said Bartholomew. "I had the best seat in the house. We are on stage and we don't know who is going to join us. At intermission we introduced ourselves. It was so oddly backwards."

Bartholomew enjoyed acting in high school but decided while a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to focus on playing music for his performance outlet and on his studies. When he appeared in a community theater production in March of 2013, he had not been in play for more than 31 years.

Bartholomew has lived in Tualatin for more than 14 years. When not on stage, he makes his living as a software engineer.

"The thing I will remember is that I have been in the audience watching excellent actors on stage. Then there was me, coming from community theater and I was right in the middle of that. It was just so bizarre and interesting to experience that."